Trudy Forsyth

Wind Advisors Team Managing Director Trudy Forsyth is a leader in the small and distributed wind consulting field, with more than two decades of experience in wind technology. Most recently she was the technical lead for the Distributed Wind Energy Association’s SMART Wind Consortium project and a co-author of the International Renewable Energy Association’s report on quality infrastructure for small wind turbines. Prior to that, she led the U.S. Department of Energy/National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) small and distributed wind program for 18 years, where she helped develop distributed wind market and programmatic strategies, facilitated design of new U.S. small wind turbines, organized unaccredited and accredited testing of prototypes and commercial turbines to standards, co-led the development of international and national standards, and led the development of distributed wind marketing and education materials. She also coordinated efforts between the NREL/National Wind Technology Center technical staff and U.S. manufacturers for publishing turbine field performance and test reports.

Trudy co-led the development of the second and third revisions of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Small Wind Turbine Design standard (61400-2) and the International Energy Agency Recommended Practice on Consumer Labeling of Small Wind Turbines. She has authored and co-authored technical papers on small wind turbines on topics including design features, economics, and commonalities in the U.S. marketplace between photovoltaics and small wind.

Trudy engaged in outreach through the Energy Department’s Wind Powering America initiative for more than a decade and has presented throughout the U.S. on distributed wind technology, small wind standards, testing and certification, distributed wind markets, and policies. She has given testimony on small wind technology and policies to state legislatures and has worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Labor, and Department of Defense on distributed wind projects. Some of her unique outreach activities include her inclusion in a national Girl Scouts Cadettes journey handbook, her hosting of a NASA SCI Files wind energy segment, and her National Association of Farm Broadcasters interviews for rural radio.

Trudy has received recognition for her leadership in distributed wind and her community contributions, including NREL’s Outstanding Community/Professional Staff Award (2003), an International Renewable Energy Council Special Recognition Award (2005), Green Energy Economy’s Top 10 Women in Wind and Solar (2010), Windustry’s Community Wind Advocate Award (2016), and a 1906 award from the IEC. Trudy was also recognized by the American Solar Energy Society as the 2012 Woman in Solar Energy and by Women of Wind Energy as the Woman of the Year in 2014. She holds a B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado-Denver.

Trudy is a board member for the Distributed Wind Energy Association. She is a past president of the Small Wind Certification Council and the co-founder and a past president of Women of Wind Energy (now known as Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy).